Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message.
Here's Adrian Rogers. Would you find in God's Word, Proverbs chapter 23, and in a moment we're going to look at verse 23, truth is fallen in the streets. We have sacrificed truth on the altar of pragmatism. And we don't ask anymore, is it true? We have lost the idea that there is such a thing as fixed truth.
We just simply ask, does it work? Now we are drowning in an ocean of facts. When I'm talking about truth today, I'm talking about truth that goes beyond facts. Now facts in and of themselves may be true, but I'm not talking about an accumulation of facts.
I am talking about truth itself. Now we are drowning, I say, especially through the use of the computer and the internet, we're drowning in facts. There's a difference in acquiring facts and learning truth. And the Bible says in the last days, knowledge shall increase and men shall rush to and fro. Well, folks, we are seeing that as a matter of fact, we are drowning in an ocean of facts.
But the Bible speaks of those who are ever learning and not coming to the knowledge of truth. America today needs truth. And you can see this because where are the facts taking us? Where does mere intellectual knowledge take us?
Today we see more suicide, more broken homes, more illness, more heartache than ever before. And yet we have facts. You see, facts are like a recipe. Truth is the meal. And we have not learned truth. Now look at our passage of scripture here in Proverbs chapter 23 verse 23, buy the truth and sell it not.
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Buy the truth and don't sell it. Now Satan is the sinister minister of evil. He is the master of camouflage and deception. And his method is to deceive.
Jesus spoke to the Pharisees of his day. And he said in John chapter eight and verse 44, you are of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own for he, Satan, is a liar and the father of it. Satan is the master liar. There is no truth in Satan. And Satan has corrupted our world and he has ruined God's creation through a lie. Jesus said of Satan that his motive is murder. He wants to bring death to youth, happiness, joy, purity, spiritual death, physical death, eternal death. He's a murderer. And his method is the lie.
His motive is murder. His method is the lie. And so we need today to learn to treasure truth. Now again, look at our verse of scripture. The Bible says here, buy the truth and sell it not. Three things I want to lay on your heart today out of that verse of scripture. Number one, brothers and sisters, we must prize the truth. That is we must value truth in our own heart.
Truth is indispensable. Why did God give us the Bible? Well, the Lord Jesus says the Bible is truth. It is called the word of truth. Why did God send us the Holy Spirit? Well, he is called the spirit of truth. Why are we worshiping here in this church building with our brothers and sisters in Christ? The church is called the pillar and the ground of truth. What gives me as a father joy and as a pastor joy?
The same thing that gave the apostle John joy. I have no greater joy than that my children walk in the truth. Now folks, truth is indispensable.
I want to say something else. Truth is absolute. We have lost our absolutes today. Today we are told we've got to be tolerant. And yet in math we're not told that we need to be tolerant. In medicine we're not told we need to be tolerant. In mathematics and physics we're not told that we need to be tolerant. But when it comes to the greatest truth of all spiritual truth, we're told that we need to be tolerant that there are no fixed absolutes in this world. One professor in a liberal college stood up and he began his lecture by saying to his students in a philosophy class, there is nothing that we can know absolutely.
Nothing that we can know absolutely. A student lifted his hand and said, professor are you sure about that? He said, absolutely sure. Now, do you see the contradiction there? Truth is absolute. Truth is indispensable. Truth is absolute.
But folks, I have wonderful news for you. Truth is attainable. We can know the truth. This Bible contains the precepts of truth. Jesus said in John chapter 17 verse 17, sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. The Bible is the precepts of truth. Jesus Christ is the person of truth. Jesus said of himself in John 14 six, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no man cometh unto the father, but by me. And the Holy Spirit is the power of truth.
John chapter 16 and verse 13, he is called the spirit of truth. And Jesus said, he will guide you into all truth. Now you see, if you have the precepts of truth, understand the person of truth, but you don't have the power of truth, then truth without power is deadening and depressing. That's what the Bible calls the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.
Knowledge without transformation avails nothing. It only increases your judgment. If you sit here today and hear truth and do not allow the Holy Spirit who is the power of truth to transform you from information to transformation, if that doesn't happen, your judgment is going to be all the greater. Perhaps we ought to put a sign over the church door that says warning. That church attendance could be dangerous for you.
It could be. Listen to 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 21, for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they had known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. So what I'm saying is first of all, we must value, we must prize the truth. Number two, we must purchase the truth.
Do you see what it says? It says buy the truth. Now, notice also it says, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Now, how do you get the truth?
Through wisdom, instruction and understanding. You see, the search for truth is costly. There's a price to pay if you would have truth. Now, you remember what Jesus said in John chapter 8 and verse 32, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. We hear that often quoted, but people don't quote the whole verse. Let me read the whole verse to you and put it down in your margin. John 8 verses 31 and 32, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.
And the word disciples means learners. Then are ye my learners indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. Now folks, truth alone will not make you free. No matter how much truth you're surrounded by, if you do not know the truth, learn the truth, understand the truth, then that truth avails you nothing. First of all, he's speaking to those who believe.
You must believe. And then after you believe, you must continue in the word. And in order to continue in the word, you have to be a disciple.
That is, you have to be a learner. And then when you're a learner, you know the truth. And then the truth makes you free. The thing that keeps me going in my Christian life, and I've been on the trail long enough to look back and analyze some things, is not how I feel.
It is what I know. It is the truth that delivers me from ignorance and the bondage to sin. Now, Jesus said, you must be my disciples. Discipleship is costly, but ignorance is far more costly. Do you want to know truth?
Do you want to teach your children truth? What's it going to cost? First of all, it's going to cost you time. Time is precious. Ignorance is more costly, however, than time. And in your quiet time and in your search for truth, hurry is the death knell of prayer, study, and meditation. We sing a song, Take Time to Be Holy. Most of us are not paying the price to purchase truth. It costs precious time.
Another thing it's going to cost you is discipline. Now, look in verse 23. There's the word instruction.
Do you see it there? That word may be translated discipline. Instruction means self-discipline. Now, you can pray for wisdom, but you have to study for instruction. You never get beyond the place where you continue to study.
Study is becoming more and more important to me. There's an interesting passage of Scripture. I want you to look at it. It's in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 13. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 13.
Now, Paul is in prison, and it's his second imprisonment. He's writing to Timothy. Perhaps it's the last letter he will ever write. This is the last part of that letter.
And I want you to see that old warrior. He's in that prison, his weary old bones creaking, his joints. He's shivering a little bit because it's the end of summer. Winter is coming. That old cell is damp and dark. And here's what he says as he writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 13. The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus. And when thou comest bring with thee, old Paul said, I need my coat.
It's chilly in here. And then he says this, listen to this, and the books, but especially the parchments. Now, here's Paul.
He's in prison. Do you know what he wants? He wants something, first of all, to protect his body.
He said, would you bring me the coat? And folks, you know, we all have physical needs as human beings and God knows that. And our bodies are important to God. And you need to take care of your health.
You need to preserve your body. And no matter how spiritual you are, the common mundane things are very important. I was in a grocery store a while back and a woman saw me and she says, oh, Pastor Rogers, I didn't know you had to buy groceries. Yeah.
I do. Paul, here's Paul, the mighty apostle, the author of most of the New Testament. He says, I need a coat.
Bring the coat. But then he says, bring the books, and especially the parchments. Now, the books, evidently, those were just books that he'd accumulated, like your library and my library. He had some books. Books were very important to the apostle Paul, as books are very important to me. And then he said, especially the parchments. And most Bible commentaries believe that those parchments were the Old Testament scriptures that he had. And so he's saying, I want some books to read.
Now, I want you to consider this. Here's the apostle Paul. He's at the end of his life, his ministry, and he's still a student.
He still wants to read. And here's a man who's proficient in many languages. Here's a man who wrote most of the New Testament. Here is a man who has seen the Lord face to face. Here is a man who has been to heaven and back in a vision.
And he still wants some books. And he's the same one who said to this Timothy, Timothy, till I come, give yourself to reading. Now, folks, you're not going to learn simply by watching ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN, you're not going to get truth by those little knickknacks and those soundbites. As a matter of fact, you're going to be led away from truth if you don't get away and get some good solid reading material and do as the apostle Paul told Timothy to give yourself to reading.
It's going to cost you some discipline. Here's the apostle Paul. Now, let me tell you why you read. Warren Wiersbe has pointed out at least four reasons why we ought to read. Number one, you read for enlightenment. You read to get hold of truth. You see, truth is to your spirit what food is to your body. Truth is to your spirit what light is to your eyes.
Truth is to your spirit what melody is to your ears. When you read, don't read merely to get facts. Read to get truth.
You've only got one life. Do you want to live and die without learning the truth? You see, to know truth is to know God. To know truth is to know Jesus. Jesus is the truth. All truth is God's truth. The devil doesn't have any truth. He is the source of deception. You say, then pastor, I'm just going to read the Bible and nothing else.
No, that'd be a mistake. You need to read widely. The apostle Paul did. He said, bring the books and also bring the parchments.
Now, obviously there's some books that no Christian should read, but as you read the apostle Paul, you'll find that Paul was a very literate man. For example, he quoted the Greek poets and the philosophers. He was familiar with the philosophers. He was familiar with all that went on because Paul knew that all real truth intersects. And he said, for example, in him, we live and move and have our being as many of your poets have said. In other words, he read what the Athenians were reading.
He knew these things. Dr. Wiersbe said, if you were to read seriously on any subject, just 30 minutes a day, whether it be nutrition, history, or whatever, in 10 years, you would have the equivalency of a PhD in that subject. You don't have to go off to college to learn. You can learn if you will read. Of course, you read other books and you read the Bible. The Bible gives you a lens, a radar by which you test all other truth, all truth intersects. And when you learn the truth, then you're going to see how it relates to all other truths and it all comes together. Now, when you learn, when you read, you don't read just to be a gatherer of facts. You learn to be a channel of truth. If you read and you grow in knowledge, but you don't grow in grace, you're going to make yourself obnoxious. You're one of these people who parades your knowledge. The Bible says, knowledge puffs up.
Love builds up. Don't read so you can split a theological hair into nine different sections. But read so that you can be a whole person.
You read for enlightenment to know truth is to know God. Number two, you read for enjoyment. Read for enjoyment.
I cannot get enough reading. You know, one of the terrible things that we do in school, they did when I was a little boy in school. They made students read to punish them.
If you did something wrong, the teacher said, you're going to have to stay in after school and read two or three chapters of this book. And somehow we associate reading not with enjoyment, but with punishment. Reading is not dull. Reading is exciting. You take books and you can meet people that you've always wanted to meet, the great leaders of all history. You read books and you can visit great periods of history. You can go back in time by reading books. Read books and you can visit faraway places, places you will never go to if you do not read. Read books and you can grapple with the great issues of life and death and eternity.
There are no problems that are new. There's nothing new under the sun. That's the reason a wise man said, those who don't study history are destined to repeat it. And those who don't study the future, they won't really have a future. Think about the great issues that you can study. When you read books, you can learn great truths.
And the greatest truth of all is theology, which is called the queen of the sciences. Would you like to be a counselor? I know people that if I had a problem, I'd want to go to those people.
And I'll tell you, those are the people who have learned, who have acquired knowledge, especially theology. Do you know what counseling is? Counseling is just loving people and knowing God and getting the two together. That's all it is. Loving people and knowing God and just bringing people to God. You don't solve their problems.
If you're a counselor and you try to solve their problems, what you're doing is taking the glory from God and you're making them dependent upon you rather than upon the one in whom we live and move and have our being. You read for enlightenment. You read for enjoyment. You read for enrichment. People say, well, books are expensive.
Friend ignorance will cost you a whole lot more. Buy books. Education costs money. Your treasures in your home ought to be your books. Your children can inherit your books. Your children can enjoy your knowledge. In your home, you need to be building character by putting truth into your children. There needs to be devotional truth for the heart. There needs to be doctrinal truth for the mind. There needs to be practical truth for the will. Getting truth into the hearts of your children. Practical truth is so important.
Children need to learn about missions, about prayer, about soul winning, about home building, other disciplines. Would you like to test yourself right now and find out whether or not you're growing in knowledge, growing in truth? Let me ask you this question. Are you excited about truth?
A person asked me, I had dinner with a person. He said, Pastor, what new truths are you learning? That blessed me so much. May I ask you that question? What new truths are you learning? Are you excited about truth?
Let me ask you another question. Are you experiencing in your life freedom? Jesus said, you'll know the truth and truth will make you free.
Are you still in bondage to political correctness, prejudice, lies, the party line, pressures and fears? It is because you've not understood the truth. Are you learning humility? A man who is learning truth doesn't tell you how much he knows, he's telling you how little he knows and how much he has yet to learn. Because the more you learn, the more you realize that the ocean is so big and your boat is so small.
Humility, knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifies. Are you learning balance? God help us to have balance. Not all worship and no evangelism, not all evangelism and no worship, not all prophecy, but no devotion, not all program, but no meditation. You need to be balanced. What I'm saying is this, friend, that you need to buy the truth and sell it not.
And it will cost you time, it will cost you discipline. But not only do you read for enrichment, you read for enablement, to do what you need to do. You know why I continue to read? Would you like a pastor who never read? A pastor who is just simply drawing out of his own well?
No, I want my doctor to continue to read. If a man's going to work on my automobile, I want him to be up to date. I mean, you want to do your job better, you need to upgrade your skills. You Sunday school teachers, you need to read a book on teaching. Wives, read a book on homemaking.
You husbands, read a book on how to love your wife better. Now reading it alone will not change you. You need to apply what you read. Don't become a book recluse.
Readers are leaders and leaders are readers. It's going to cost you, friend, it's going to cost you time, it's going to cost you discipline. Now watch and listen carefully. If you buy the truth, it's going to cost you obedience.
Now this is very important. If you are just simply a gatherer of facts, a note taker, but you do not obey what you hear, you're living dangerously. Truth is to be transformational.
The Bible says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed how? By the renewing of your mind. As your mind feeds on truth, your mind is renewed. When you learn truth and don't act upon it, you do yourself danger. A wise man has said that impression without expression leads to depression.
Impression without expression leads to depression. The apostle James said in James chapter one in verse 22, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. A person who hears truth and does not act upon truth is self-deceived. You know what Jesus said about him? Now don't get angry, but I'm going to tell you what Jesus said. Who so heareth these words of mine and doeth them not is like a foolish man. Jesus said, you're a fool.
If you hear and you do not do. There's a story I've often told about, I don't believe the story literally happened, but it illustrates the truth of a theater that was packed who came to hear a great actor. And everybody wanted to hear this man.
He was world renowned. The manager of the theater came to him just before he was to step on the stage and said to the actor, we have an emergency. A fire has broken out in the wings of the theater. And we don't want the people to stampede. We don't want to do, as they say, to yell fire in a crowded theater. So what we would like is for you to go out, tell the people that the theater is on fire, but keep the crowd under control and ask them to leave quietly and nobody's life will be in danger. So when this great actor stepped on the platform, they applauded. He held up his hands to stop the applause.
He said, ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention? I have a serious announcement to make and I want you to listen very carefully. He said, now I don't want there to be any panic. There's no cause for panic. Everything is under control, but I have been informed that a small fire has broken out in the wings of this theater. And so it is important for our safety that we rise from our seats and carefully leave the building.
There's enough time for everyone to leave in order. You know what happened when he made that announcement? He said, bravo. They thought it was a part of the act. No, he said, ladies and gentlemen, this is not a part of the act.
There's a fire. It is important that you leave the auditorium now. Bravo, that's even better. Now with the tears streaming down his cheeks, he said, for God's sake, you must go.
Yes, wonderful, wonderful. So many times we sit in church and hear truth that way, as if the preacher is some actor and this is some form of entertainment and we do not act upon that truth. And Jesus said, when we hear truth and we do not obey the truth, we're like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand and the storms are coming. James said that be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.
Impression without expression leads to depression. And so folks, if you would buy the truth, it's going to cost you, but it'll be worth it. Buy the truth and don't sell it.
Now here's the third and final thing. You must prize the truth. You must purchase the truth and you must preserve the truth. Now look at this verse of scripture. Proverbs chapter 23 verse 23, buy the truth and sell it not. Get a bulldog grip on the truth and never, never, never, never let go.
There is nothing so valuable that you should exchange that for the truth. Put these scriptures down. Titus 1, 9, holding fast the faithful word. Philippians 1 verse 27, that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.
Jude 1 verse 3, that ye earnestly contend for the faith. Now we're in a battle for truth. Those who deny the truth.
There is an open war today on the word of God, like I've never seen in all of my life. There are those who deny the truth. Even more dangerous are those who distort the truth.
We have now in extreme charismatic areas, those who are getting extra biblical revelations and visions and ecstasies. And what they're doing is simply distorting the truth. And when a person gets into these extra biblical revelations and somehow say what they say or what they think is compared to the word of God, they distort the truth. And it's a very dangerous thing because soon this extra biblical revelation becomes anti-biblical revelation and people are led away from the word of God. There are those who deny the truth, those who distort the truth. There are those who dilute the truth. That is that they mix the truth with error to try to accommodate biblical truth to what they believe to be, for example, modern science. I've seen people who accommodate themselves to modern evolution because they believe that that's the scientific truth. And yet they say they believe the Bible. So they just say, well, I believe in evolution and I believe the Bible and I just believe that evolution is God's way of doing it.
Friend, I want to tell you something. That's very sloppy thinking. That's trying to ride one horse in two different directions.
And when you become a thinking person, you're going to find out that that is impossible. You cannot have both because they are antithetical. They do not work together.
They do not merge together. But they're those who today would dilute the truth. And then there are those who defile the truth. That is somehow they preach what is true, but they do not live what they preach. And they make merchandise of the Word of God. And Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 17, for we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. So let me just sum it up.
Listen to me, folks. Buy the truth and sell it not. And when the child of God looks into the Word of God and sees the Son of God and is changed by the Spirit of God into the image of God for the glory of God, he has found the truth of God.
And he's been set free. Now remember, Jesus is the person of truth. The Bible is the proclamation of truth.
The Holy Spirit is the power of truth. I have given you God's Word today. And I want to present to you the Lord Jesus Christ who loves you so much that he died for you as if you'd been the only one who ever needed it. He took your sins and carried them to the cross. And with his own blood, he paid the sin debt that your sins have incurred and bore the punishment that is due to you. And when Jesus bowed his head and died, he said, it is finished.
That means it is paid in full. The debt that your sins have incurred has been paid with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Now, what must you do? You must believe that.
You must receive that. You must confess it. Would you believe it? Would you say to God, God, I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son? I believe that he died on the cross for my sins. I believe he walked out of that grave risen and victorious.
I believe it. And then would you say, Lord, I receive it right now. I open my heart. And by faith, I receive your Son who is truth into my heart. Lord Jesus, come into my heart right now.
Forgive my sin, cleanse me, make me your child. I receive it by faith right now. I give you my heart. I receive you.
Tell him that. And I want you to tell the Lord, Lord, if you just give me the strength, I'll let it be known that I'm trusting you. In your holy name, amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
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